Chapter 24
At exactly three a.m. on Monday morning, Stone and Fred pulled up in front of Dino’s building.
“Mr. Bacchetti doesn’t appear to be here,” Fred said.
“I’ll call him.” Stone pulled out his phone, but before he could tap Dino’s number, Dino stepped out of the building.
Fred hopped out and hurried around to open the Bentley’s door for him.
As Dino climbed in the back, Stone said, “Good morning.”
“Says who?” Dino grumbled.
“Maybe this will help,” Stone said, handing him a coffee in a takeaway cup.
Dino took a sip. “Thanks. But I’m going to need at least four of these.”
“You’re in luck. I’m told there’s a coffee maker on the boat.”
Thanks to the early hour, they reached the Minerva’s dock in no time.
Josie was there to greet them as they stepped on board.
“Good morning,” she said.
“If you say so,” Dino said.
“Don’t mind him,” Stone said. “He’ll be fine in an hour or two.”
She smiled. “Come inside. I’ll introduce you to the crew, and we can get underway.”
Stone noticed deck crew beginning to remove the ropes holding the Minerva to the pier.
“Wait. Are we leaving? Commander Choi from the Coast Guard is supposed to join us.”
“She arrived thirty minutes ago. You two are the last.”
She led him through a doorway and up a set of stairs to the bridge, where four people in uniforms were spread among different posts.
The room was very high-tech, with dozens of TV screens throughout and controls that looked like they’d been developed more for video games than for controlling an oceangoing vessel.
“Captain Marks?” Josie said.
A man with salt-and-pepper hair, who looked at least a decade older than the others present, turned.
“Josie,” he said. “Are these our guests?”
“They are,” she said. “This is Stone Barrington and Dino Bacchetti.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Barrington,” the captain said, shaking Stone’s hand. He then turned to Dino. “And, of course, I’ve heard of you, Commissioner Bacchetti. It’s an honor to have you aboard.”
“The honor is all mine,” Dino said, his earlier grumpiness gone.
“Captain,” one of the other crew members said.
He glanced over, and she gave him a nod.
To Stone, Dino, and Josie, Captain Marks said, “I’d love to chat, but I have a ship in need of getting underway. Perhaps later?”
“We look forward to it,” Stone said.
Josie led him and Dino out a door at the back of the bridge and down a different set of stairs than the ones they’d come up. From there, they went down a short hall and through a bulkhead into a large room.
The new space was even more high-tech than the bridge and, to Stone, looked like a futurized version of a NASA control center. There were dozens of workstations, each with monitors and keyboards and devices Stone didn’t recognize. In addition, several larger screens were mounted to one wall.
While there was enough room for a couple dozen people to work, only seven were present, none of whom appeared to be much older than thirty. Most were dressed like students who didn’t care how they looked.
The only exception was Commander Choi, who was in her tropical blues, a uniform designed for both utility and comfort.
As soon as she saw Stone and the others, she joined them.
“Good morning, Mr. Barrington,” she said. “Good to see you again.”
“Good morning, Commander. I take it you’ve already met Josie.”
“I have, sir. And have also thanked her for arranging this.”
He motioned to Dino. “Do you remember my friend, Dino Bacchetti?”
“Of course, from the hospital,” she said, extending her hand. “Good to see you again, Commissioner.”
“Same, Commander,” Dino said, shaking with her.
“Let me introduce you to Sam,” Josie said.
She guided them over to a woman wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap, with her pink hair in a ponytail poking out the back.
“This is Dr. Samantha Logan,” Josie said.
“If you call me Samantha, I won’t answer,” the woman said. “It’s Sam.”
“Sam’s in charge of Bruce,” Josie explained.
“And who is Bruce?” Stone said.
“That’s the ROV going down to the Amanda Jae.”
“You know, like the mechanical shark in Jaws,” Sam said.
“The shark in Jaws had a name?” Dino said.
Sam looked at him like he’d just crawled out from under a rock. “Of course. Why wouldn’t it?”
“Sorry, I’m a little rusty on my Jaws trivia.”
She shrugged and turned back to her screen.
“Why don’t we finish the tour?” Josie said.
She led Stone, Dino, and the commander sternward.
“You’ll have to excuse Sam,” Josie said, once they’d left the control center. “She can be a little…blunt. But I promise you, she’s the best ROV pilot on the Atlantic Ocean.”
“I don’t know,” Stone said. “I was enjoying how she pointed out Dino’s lack of Jaws trivia knowledge.”
“Don’t pretend you knew the shark’s name,” Dino said.
“Of course I did. Everyone knows that.” He looked at Choi. “Commander?”
She nodded. “The crew called it Bruce.”
“Why do I feel like I’m being pranked?” Dino asked.
“This way,” Josie said as she opened a door.
They stepped outside onto a wide deck lined with dozens of equipment boxes.
Above the deck was a metal crane used to move items onto and off the ship. And in the center was a raised platform upon which sat another box, this one with Bruce stenciled on the side.
Two men were on the platform, unlatching the top of the box.
When they noticed the new arrivals, one of the men gave them a wave and said, “Good morning, Ms. Hale.”
“Good morning, Jerry,” Josie said. “Do you mind if I bring my friends up for a look?”
“Not at all.”
The group took a short set of steps onto the platform and crowded around one end of the box as Jerry and his partner undid the last latch and lifted off the lid.
Resting inside on foam padding was the ROV. It was shaped like a manta ray and was about the size of a Vespa scooter. Along its rim were several camera lenses and lights, while on top were bumps that Stone guessed served as sensors of some kind.
“So, this is Bruce,” Stone said.
Jerry nodded. “He was named after—”
Dino held up a hand, stopping him. “Trust me. We’re aware.”
“How deep can ROVs go?” Stone asked.
“Depends on the ROV,” Josie said. “Most are in the several hundred to several thousand meters range. But a few can even reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench. That’s just over eleven thousand meters.”
“And Bruce?”
“He’s rated to two thousand meters,” Jerry said.
Stone wasn’t sure to what depth the Amanda Jae had sunk. “I take it that’s enough?”
“More than,” Josie said. “The Amanda Jae was still over the continental shelf when it went down. Deep but not nearly that deep.”
As she said this, the ship rolled a bit as it moved down the river toward the southern end of Manhattan.
“It’ll be a few hours until we’re in position,” Josie said. “How about we go down to the galley and have some breakfast?”